Documents connect Hart to Sunway; Gov't to sell Bakr's properties

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan told reporters Tuesday documents obtained from Malaysia show a clear family link between two directors of Sunway Caribbean (Construction) Limited and Sherrine Hart, wife of UDeCOTT’s former executive chairman Calder Hart.

He added that the matter is now in the hands of the police.

Hart awarded the company a $368 million contract to build the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower in Port-of-Spain but has always denied any family link.

Ramlogan said the documents ordered from the Malaysian Government for authentication, were sent in Malay, the official language of of the country and had to be translated.

"The official translation of the documents is completed and has been authenticated. I have since met with the head of the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), Superintendent Solomon Koon Koon, and those documents were passed on to him last Friday," he told reporters.

Supt Koon Koon confirmed to local media that he received the documents and forwarded them to the head of the Fraud Squad.

The Fraud Squad is already involved in a perjury investigation against Hart with regard to his testimony before the Uff Commission of Inquiry into UDeCOTT. The unit is also probing other matters involving Hart.

However, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, said up to Tuesday the relevant documents have not reached him.

Hart resigned all his government posts and left the country suddenly in March, shortly after a meeting with then Prime Minister Patrick Manning. He returned once since then and was given VIP treatment before leaving again.

BAKR's properties on auction block

In another development, Ramlogan announced that the state is moving to recover more than $32 million awarded as damages from the Jamaat al Muslimeen for the 1990 failed coup.

High Court Justice Rajendra Narine made the award last year after the Privy Council ruled as irrelevant an affidavit which Muslimeen leader Iman Yasin Abu Bakr claimed had given him an exemption from paying.

That document, involving Manning, is the subject of a police investigation.

Read the story: Judge orders probe of PM Manning; orders auction of Abu Bakr's properties
Related story: IC begins probe of Bakr's alleged deal with Manning

Bakr claimed that he and Manning had a deal for the Muslimeen leader to help Manning and the PNM win the 2002 general election and that Manning had awarded him favours in return, including the forgiving of the debt.

The Privy Council said while the affidavit was not relevant to the case before it suggested that if such a deal had been made between the two men it would be a breach of the country's anti-corruption laws.

The Manning government had failed to take any action on selling Bakr's properties to recover the money.

However Ramlogan announced on Tuesday that Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal will oversee the legal process regarding the auctioning of the properties. Ten of the properties belong to Bakr and a senior Jamaat member owns one of them.

Ramlogan said he expects "this process to be completed by the end of the month through a public auction."

Related: Reader fingers Muslimeen in quarry operations. Reprinted from the Trinidad Guardian